An Information-Theoretic Approach to the Access Control Problem

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper we propose an information-theoretic approach to the access control problem in a scenario where a group of users is divided into a number of disjoint classes. The set of rules that specify the information flow between different user classes in the system defines an access control policy. An access control policy can be implemented by using a key assignment scheme, where a trusted central authority (CA) assigns an encryption key and some private information to each class. We consider key assignment schemes which are unconditionally secure against attacks carried out by any coalition of classes. We show lower bounds on the size of the private information that each class has to store and on the amount of randomness needed by the CA to set up any key assignment scheme. Finally, we propose an optimal construction for unconditionally secure key assignment schemes.KeywordsAccess ControlDirected GraphPrivate InformationCentral AuthorityJoint Probability DistributionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.